A Light A Life
by Viper-Rock
Summary: Kaoru didn't know what Hikaru saw in her, until he tried seeing it himself.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: Not Mine.

A Light, A Life

Chapter 1

He wasn't sure just what he'd been thinking when he kissed her. He'd been watching her, and his brother, and how Hikaru seemed to pay her a special kind of attention, look at her a certain way.

Kaoru knew what that look was. He wasn't stupid. His brother was in love with Haruhi. Although, maybe he thought it was just a crush, or maybe he didn't know it yet. There was even a slim chance he wasn't truly in love, but just thought he was.

It didn't really make a difference. From his knowledge of his twin, Kaoru knew Hikaru hadn't said anything. Knew he wouldn't say anything until the issue was forced on him.

Still. That look was one that neither twin had ever graced another being with before. The well hidden adoration in that gaze, that only Kaoru could read, was like a red flag. That was what told Kaoru that this was serious.

That was what had Kaoru studying Haruhi, trying to determine if she was good enough for Hikaru.

Kaoru liked Haruhi. She had good grades, good looks, a good personality. She was a good person, and she could handle their King with an ease only matched by Kyouya, although even Kyouya didn't stand a chance against Tamaki's steam engine enthusiasm. She could always tell the twins apart, as well, no matter what lengths they went to to confuse her.

It was strange how she'd learned things about them, their differences, that even they didn't know.

But that didn't help him determine if she was good enough. Objective tests and strength of character only told him qualities that nearly all of the students at Ouran possessed.

Kaoru decided to give it a different test. He decided to pretend to be Hikaru for a moment, and try looking at Haruhi like Hikaru had been. As if everything about her was special, and no one else could compare.

And it all just clicked into place. He thought he got it. She _was_ special. There was a light, a life, in her eyes that outshone all the other girls the host club had ever seen. She had a way of enjoying life so much that it made everyone around her happy as well. And even more than that, she was just so unique. No one else was quite like her. No one at all.

Quietly, Kaoru excused himself from his gaggle of fans, claiming he needed to use the bathroom, and walked out of the room. She really was... Something special. She was good enough for his brother. He leaned against the wall outside the Host Club, and tried to rid himself of the feelings he'd invoked for his little test. The thought that maybe she was good enough for _him_, too, just kept circling.

He was still there, eyes closed, five minutes later, when he heard his name called softly. Kaoru opened his eyes to see Haruhi standing in front of him, and his heart leapt into his throat.

"Haruhi..."

"Is something wrong, Kaoru?"

He didn't say anything, just cocked his head to the side, mind deep in curious contemplation. He wasn't even fully aware of the subjects circling just under his concious thought.

"Kaoru?"

The thoughts resolved themselves into a crystalline decision, and he found himself moving he before he even realized what had been decided.

His lips met hers, just before he regained control of himself.

He threw himself back, hitting the wall he'd just stepped away from, and bit his thumb in a nervous gesture.

"I- I'm sorry, Haruhi, I don't know what came over me. E-excuse me. I need to get back before Kyouya realizes I've been gone. I'm sorry." He turned and began to walk off.

"Wait, Kaoru."

He glanced back long enough to see her looking puzzled, her hand at her lips, then forced himself to keep walking. Bad enough that he had forced himself upon her, bad enough that he'd kissed the girl his brother was in love with.

He didn't need to make anything worse.

He walked back into the Host Club, where no one would confront him, and he could lose himself in his club duties.


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: Not Mine.

A Light, A Life

Chapter 2

It took her a moment to unfreeze herself after Kaoru walked away. Why had he done that? There was no crowd watching, no people to draw into the club. She would almost expect something like that from Tamaki, or maybe even Hikaru, who had been acting a weird around her lately. But Kaoru was definitely a surprise.

She took a moment to compose herself, and wiped the confusion off of her face before following Kaoru back into the club room. Like Kaoru had said, it wouldn't do to be missed from club activities. Kyouya just didn't put up with it.

Despite being surrounded by clamoring fangirls, Hikaru made time for himself to smile at her, welcoming her back even though she'd only been gone for a couple of minutes. Kaoru was already three deep in his fans, and Haruhi knew she would soon be just as surrounded. Despite the crowds, she glanced periodically at both Kaoru and Hikaru.

Now they were both acting weird. Maybe it was some kind of twin thing that she just didn't know about. The two of them were chock full of strange habits and behaviors, after all. Hikaru was giving her all the attention he could spare, smiling and always wanting to chat. Not too unusual, all in all, actually, except he was going out of his way to give her that attention. And Kaoru had kissed her, which wouldn't have been so strange if it were a club thing. But on his own like that... He was avoiding even looking at her now, too. He blushed and jerked his head to look away every time he failed to avoid her gaze. Kaoru was just lucky he was good at thinking up excuses, or someone would have found out something was up already.

"What's wrong, Haru-chan?" Hunny tugged at her sleeve from his perch on the side of the couch.

"What do you mean?"

"You're looking funny at Kao-chan and Hika-chan. Did they do something?"

"I'm sure it's nothing, Hunny-senpai. They're just acting weird, is all." She smiled at him, and he happily bounced away looking for another piece of cake, satisfied with her answer.

Still though, she wanted to know what was going on.

Hikaru wanted to know just what was up with his twin. He'd come back from his supposed "bathroom break" looking agitated, not that anyone besides Hikaru knew enough to tell. He twitched at every mention of Haruhi, and refused to so much as glance at her if he could help it.

Hikaru glanced over at Haruhi and couldn't help the smile he felt spreading across his face. He just couldn't help it lately. Every time he looked at her, he couldn't have stopped it even if he wanted to. She was just... special to him, right now, and he didn't even know why.

And she was one of few people who could read Kaoru as well as he could. He could see her giving Kaoru the occasional odd look, like she was wondering or worrying about something.

Maybe she'd learned something Hikaru hadn't, though, and he resolved to question her the next day, if he didn't manage to get any answers out of Kaoru later that night.

He glanced at the clock. One more hour until the end of club activities, then he would be free to corner Kaoru and make him come clean.

Hikaru looked over at his brother in time to see him once again turn red and jerk his head away from looking at Haruhi.

Just one more hour.


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: Not Mine.

A Light, A Life

Chapter 3

"Hey, Kaoru, what was going on with you and Haruhi today?" Hikaru asked once they got home, as he changed out of his school uniform.

"You were blushing every time you looked at her- Just like you are now! And she kept shooting you looks like something was up." Hikaru had predicted the blush that flamed to life on his brother's face, but the otherwise bland reaction wasn't quite what he'd been counting on.

"Nothing was going on." Kaoru said shortly.

"Even Tono noticed something was weird, Kaoru. He was asking all kinds of weird questions, especially after you glared at him for asking if you were sick. And when I asked Haruhi, she said-"

"I kissed her."

"-it was your business." Hikaru trailed off, staring at his brother.

"You- What?"

"I kissed her. When I went out into the hall, before I 'started acting weird'. She followed me, and I kissed her."

"Kaoru-"

"I was trying to figure out why you kept looking at her that way-"

"What way?"

"And it just hit me. She really is someone special. I could understand why you looked at her like she was all that mattered in the world, because I felt the same way." Kaoru took a deep breath, and stared down at his feet.

"Kaoru... You love Haruhi?" Hikaru wasn't sure just what to make of this. Of course Haruhi was special, but the implication that he didn't care for his twin hurt. As did the implication that his twin didn't care for him. But Kaoru probably didn't mean it.

"Feels like it."

Hikaru thought about how he'd been feeling when he looked at Haruhi. "I think I might love her, too."

"I already know that!" Kaoru glared. "You've been acting like a puppy all week, hanging around her."

Hikaru shrugged off the glare. "I haven't really been thinking about it. And that doesn't mean I don't love you just as much, Kaoru. You're my twin. My other half. I'll never stop loving you."

"It looked like you were thinking about it pretty hard to me. You never missed a chance to talk to her, and if it weren't for the fact that everyone thinks she's a boy and our club activities, half the school would have seen it, too. Not to mention one of the girls asked me if I minded your attention being so clearly on someone else!" Kaoru was glad Hikaru had taken the time to reassure him, but he wasn't in the mood to be mollified. He really wasn't happy that Haruhi had had so much of the attention that he always got. She had turned their world upside down once already, and now she was doing it again.

"I could say the same to you, you know. You couldn't even look at her without blushing, today. I had Kyouya ask me what was wrong with you. Kyouya! He doesn't want anything to interfere with his money making, and he's going to want to know what was wrong, unless we get this cleared up!"

They both paled at the thought of what Kyouya might do to them to make up for any loss in profit.

"We'll just have to get it cleared up before club, then. We've got to figure something out, Hikaru. I don't want to get on Kyouya's bad side!"

"Neither do I!"

Even if Kyouya wouldn't actually hurt them, he could still make their lives absolute hell.

But what could they do to fix this? The only solution Hikaru could come up with scared him, but he knew Kyouya would accept nothing less than the full truth. If he found out the problem, and found that they hadn't told Haruhi, he might just tell her himself.

"We'll just... We'll talk to Haruhi first thing in the morning. We can't sort this out without her, after all. She'll help us out. Somehow." The very idea of telling Haruhi any of this made Hikaru's heart beat faster, a combination of aticipation and fear.

"You're sure that's a good idea? What if she doesn't like either of us?" Kaoru didn't admit to his true fear, the same one he saw reflected in Hikaru's eyes. If she didn't like either of them, at least they had each other. The fear was that she would like one of them. _One _of them.

"We have to do something, and this is the only way I can think of."


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: Not Mine.

A Light, A Life

Chapter 4

The twins ambushed her as she entered the school. "Hey, Haruhi, can we talk to you for a minute?"

"Yeah, sure. What's up?"

"Just- Come with us, alright?" They led her to an unoccupied classroom, their faces unusually serious, and Haruhi could see traces of fear hiding behind their eyes.

"Is- Is there something wrong? Are you going to tell me why you guys have been acting so weird lately?" Haruhi had spent a number of hours wondering what it could be. If it was enough to make Honey-senpai ask her what was wrong, then it had to be something pretty big. He usually just let things go, otherwise. And for the devilish twins to be afraid, that lent even more to the theory.

The twins exchanged looks before they answered. "Something like that." Kaoru said. When she didn't say anything, he nudged Hikaru, and whispered something.

Hikaru hesitated momentarily, frowning down at his feet, before he muttered something to himself. He determinedly looked up to meet Haruhi's eyes and add. "We're in love with you, Haruhi. Both of us."

"_That's_ what's had you both in knots? It's nothing to be afraid of, you know." Haruhi was surprised enough to ask, before she realized just who she was talking to. The entirety of the host club had self-confidence in spades, but the twins had a particular brand of it. They were so tied up with each other, that opening up to someone else would be a lot more difficult for either of them. And for them both to fall in love with the same person, they must be even more afraid that she might somehow come between them.

"We've never felt this way about anyone, Haruhi. It's somewhat... disconcerting. We want you to go out with us." Hikaru and Kaoru finished together.

Haruhi's eyebrows rose. "At the same time?"

The twins both stopped mid-flinch, since they'd been expecting a rather different answer, that included at least one rejection. They frowned thoughtfully. "We hadn't thought of that."

She could hardly believe that. The way they'd been talking, it had sounded like they'd been planning it all along. But once again, she realized, it was the twins. She should have recognized the speech patterns they used were the same ones they used every day, with the word "we" occurring many times more often then the word "I". But from the looks on their faces, the misconception was going in a direction they were both pleased with. There was a lot more confidence in their stances when they straightened back up, and they were clearly more comfortable with the situation now.

"It's rather unorthodox, we'll admit." Hikaru mused aloud.

"But it also sounds much more pleasant that the alternatives." Kaoru concluded.

"Haruhi," they said together, "would you go out with us? We mean both of us."

"I don't know if it would be the best idea for me to date you. I mean, we're all in the host club, aren't we? I'm sure someone would raise the alarm over this."

The twins both sighed in relief. She hadn't rejected the idea. She was actually thinking about what would happen if she accepted. Which meant she was thinking about accepting.

"And with all three of us working on it, I'm sure we could come up with some good cover stories."

"Or marketing plans, if those fail and Kyouya finds out." The boys' eyes met, and they both shuddered at the idea of what Kyouya might do to them if they cost the club money.

Haruhi had to agree with them on that score. Kyouya could be pretty terrifying. And all three of them were certainly clever enough to make it work... But now that she'd determined it was possible to date them without everything falling apart, she had to determine if she actually _wanted_ to.

Looking at their faces, and seeing both the hope and fear shining through their arrogant masks, she couldn't help but think, _Yeah, I think I do want to try this._

"Okay. I'll go out with you, Hikaru, Kaoru. Both of you."


End file.
